EXCLUSIVE! Demi Lovato's Friends: She Disappeared After Joe Jonas Romance — It 'Must Have Been Bad!'

The Disney star lost touch with her circle of friends when she started dating Joe, and now they are worried for Demi’s health.

Balancing a hot new boyfriend and a high profile career can be a challenge, and now Demi Lovato’s long time friends say her romance with Joe Jonas, which began in January and ended in May, changed her. “Once she started dating Joe, it was like everything changed,” says one source.

“Demi was around a bunch last year. She was always hanging out with us and stuff and it kind of seemed like she got her emotional stuff together,” another source tells us. “It’s hard to be in the business, but we’re all doing it and holding it together. But she actually really, really liked Joe. Normally she doesn’t fall that hard.”

Her friends insist that Demi, 18, isn’t just “this cheerful Disney kid”, but that she’s actually “pretty dark” with a dry sense of humor. But that changed once Joe, 21, came into the picture.

“She seemed really happy or whatever, but she kind of stopped talking to me. It just seemed like she had it all suddenly and for once she was actually happy, so she didn’t need to constantly be texting. We used to talk a lot more, but since she’s been gone on tour, I barely hear from her,” her old pal confesses to us.

Says another friend, “Honestly, communication totally cut off when she went on tour. I think she’s been dealing with the problems her whole life,” says the source. “We all know Demi is kind of emotional, but I never would have thought she’d cancel work. It must be bad.”